slowly the hours slip past. the road is now only 6 hours away. but today it is hotter than yesterday and the runners more tired. every hour is a separate struggle for survival, . . sports are no respecter of age the backyard is more forgiving than most but out here on...

and so we lose niklas sjoblom of sweden and angelika huemer-toff, the austrian champion. angelika had a splendid outing, improving her best performance by 18 yards from 44 to 52. still there were tears. it gets harder with each runner they have invested so much of...

i told you there would be casualties. and not even the ones we expected. . every runner in the field is operating on a margin so thin that anything can take them down. the belgian brecht vandamme is gone. victim of the hills the uk's john stocker is gone. victim of a...

we are going to lose some today. of course we know there will be casualties on the trail. they are into their third day of running without a break but somehow it is different watching it in progress. . some of the runners are working hard to make the cutoffs they are...

at last a number that looks impressive. willie david christopher from malaysia was unable to make the cutoff. the surviving 45 went on when the bell rang. now we are down to the ones who came to play. no one will be giving up easy. they arent going to hit a bad...

only one runner stopped at 48. so obviously the other 46 have come to play. . the lone athlete to stop at 48 hours was niki micallef. niki earned his place at big's as the maltese champion. but he stepped into the starting corral two days ago with the smallest...

so all 47 started the 48th yard. no one was in any apparent trouble coming out of 47, so it seems likely they will all make it. . as exciting as it is to see this sort of a mass accomplishment what makes it sweetest is the performances of the women. . all 4 are still...

the 47 all went out again. i am getting ever more excited about the number of people about to log a sub 48 hour time for 200 miles. . for most runners the time between midnight and dawn is the hardest to run. it takes a special mindset to maintain a steady performance...

the 47 all cleared another yard. sunrise is less than three hours away. it will mark the beginning of the third day... . and a return to the feared trails! . not everyone fears the trails. team mexico cut their teeth on trails that could have big's trail for...